Life Span: Born 27th May, 1941, in Illinois, USA; died 29th June, 1999, in Beverly Hills, USA.

Star Sign: Gemini

Famous as: US film and theatre producer, and actors' agent.

Background: His parents were Albert and Ann Solomon.

Career: While still in his teens and a student at Northwestern university he put $750 into the musical Ziegfeld Follies, starring Tallullah Bankhead and thus became the youngest "angel" on Broadway. However the show soon closed. Carr put $1250 into the play The Happiest Millionaire, (1957), starring Walter Pigeon. It was a big hit and Allan Carr became an impresario by the time he was 20. He was co-creator of the Playboy Penthouse television series. Intent on learning about films he went to Madrid in 1961 to work as an assistant to the director Nicholas Ray on King of Kings.
Carr returned to the USA to put on theatre productions in Chicago and Los Angeles. He helped establish the Civic Theatre in Chicago where he presented Bette Davis and Gary Merrill in The World of Carl Sandburg.
In 1966 he formed Allan Carr Enterprises which was a talent agency managing Ann-Margret, Melina Mercouri, Peter Sellers, Petula Clarke, Tony Curtis, Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass, Dyan Cannon, Paul Anka, Cass Elliot, Marvin Hamlisch, and Peggy Lee. He was credited with discovering Michelle Pfeiffer, Steve Guttenberg, and Mark Hamill.
In 1975 Carr became a creative consultant to the Robert Stigwood Organisation. In this role he promoted the film of The Who's rock-opera Tommy, (1975), directed by Ken Russell. In 1976 he became a millionaire by editing and dubbing a low-budget Mexican film to create Survive!, the surprise film success for Paramont, based on the true story of the Uruguayan soccer team which resorted to cannibalism after their plane crashed in the Andes.

In 1978 he produced the film Grease which became one of Hollywood's biggest moneyspinners.
He saw Jean Poiret's hit play La Cage Aux Folles in Paris, but it was not until August 1983 when he was able to get his own musical version on the Broadway stage. He used the composer Jerry Herman, the writer Harvey Fierstein, the director Arthur Laurents, and the choreographer Scott Salmon. The musical was a great success and it won six Tony Awards, including Best Musical, and ran for five years.
He co-wrote and produced the film vehicle for the Village People, Can't Stop the Music, (1980).
In 1989 he produced the Academy Awards ceremony which came to be regarded as the most vulgar presentation ever. A duet between Robert Lowe and a squeaky-voiced Snow White singing the Ike and Tina Turner song Proud Mary prompted legal action by the Wa lt Disney company.
In 1995 he sponsored the Royal Shakespeare Company productions in Broadway and Washington D.C. of Cyrano de Bergerac and Much Ado About Nothing which won 10 Tony Awards including one for Allan Carr.

Friends & Relationships: He often dressed in outsize caftans and full-length furs to hide his portly figure. He was nicknamed "Caftans Courageous". At one stage he had his jaws wired up to curb his eating. He was famous for his extravagant parties, the most famous being the black-tie dinner-dance held at Lincoln Heights jail, Los Angeles for the writer Truman Capote. By the end of his life he had homes in Beverly Hills, Malibu, Waikiki, Manhattan, and London.
He died of liver cancer at the age of 62.

Finest Achievement: La Cage Aux Folles and Grease.

Work: Ziegfeld Follies, role as theatre play promoter The Happiest Millionaire, 1957, role as theatre play promoter. Playboy Penthouse, television series co-creator. King of Kings, 1961, role as an assistant to the director Nicholas Ray. The First Time, 1969, role as film producer, (also called The Beginners Three, The Beginners, Doin' It, They Don't Wear Pajamas at Rosie's, You Don't Need Pajamas at Rosie's). C.C. and Company, 1970, role as film producer, (also called on video Chrome Hearts).
Tommy, 1975, role as film promoter. Survive!, 1976, role as film editor and adapter. Grease, 1978, role as film writer (adapter) and producer. Can't Stop the Music, 1980, role as film co-writer and producer. Won the 1981 Razzie Awards for Worst Picture and Worst Screenplay (shared with Bronte Woodward). Grease 2, 1982, role as film producer. La Cage Aux Folles, 1983, as theatre producer. Awarded a 1984 Tony. Cloak & Dagger, 1984, role as film producer. Where the Boys Are '84, 1984, role as film producer. Nominated for the 1985 Razzie Award for Worst Picture. Academy Awards, 1989. producer. Cyrano de Bergerac, 1995, sponsor of theatre production. Much Ado About Nothing, 1995, sponsor of theatre production. Allan Carr was awarded a Tony.

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